A night of Columbian music, part of the World Routes Academy at the Royal
Albert Hall for the Proms 2012, was charming and energetic, writes Ivan
Hewett.

The Proms are normally sedate occasions, but on Tuesday I felt as if I’d gatecrashed a party. Around me it seemed as if the entire Colombian population of London had gathered to celebrate. The stalls were full of gyrating Colombian matrons and their slightly embarrassed daughters. And on stage were 10 musicians, led by two in flamboyantly decorated hats, playing tiny button accordions with amazing speed. Around them was a joyously energised band of guitars, drummers, congas, double-bass, and a flautist piping up above.

This was the World Routes Academy Prom. It was only the third such Prom, but already the tradition feels solidly rooted. The reason is surely that it fits in so well with the Proms ethos, which is all to do with preserving a heritage, and highlighting the role of youth in that process.

Radio 3’s World Routes Academy does this on a global canvas. Each year a young British-born practitioner of a traditional, non-Western musical form is paired off with a renowned musician from the tradition’s heartland. The young one learns from the wise mentor, and eventually the two perform together at a Prom.

This year’s academician is the 20-year-old London-based Colombian accordionist José Hernando Arias Noguera. He fell in love with the Colombian style of virtuoso accordion playing and singing known as vallenato, after seeing one of its great practitioners, Egidio Cuadrado, on YouTube.

Cuadrado became his mentor, and with his help Arias Noguera reached the quarter-finals in this year’s vallenato competition back in Colombia. In the Albert Hall they traded virtuoso phrases – vocal and instrumental – in that spirit of friendly rivalry you find in musical traditions the world over. To my untrained ears, Cuadrado had the edge because he was more daring. His phrases had the “sting” that’s so prized in the tradition, but he was no purist.

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But in truth it was the singer standing next to them, Carlos Mario Zabaleta, who often stole the show. The songs had that nice rhythmic ambiguity which meant you weren’t quite sure how to clap – unless you were Colombian. Everyone seemed to know the words, and joined in lustily. It all felt charmingly old‑fashioned, and yet thoroughly alive.

Hear this concert on the BBC iPlayer and all the Proms live on BBC Radio 3 www.bbc.co.uk/radio3